Like most 16-year-olds, Brooke Greenberg enjoys shopping and listening to rock music.

But unlike other girls her age who are learning to drive and going to theprom, Brooke still wears diapers, travels in a stroller and can’t walk or talk. Like a toddler, Brooke is 2-and-a-half feet tall and weighs only 16 pounds. “Forthe past 10, 11 years, she’s looked the same,” said Brooke’s father,Howard Greenberg. “The price is, she’s adorable. She stopped aging atthe right age.” Doctors aren’t sure how or why,but Brooke, who lives in Baltimore, Md., developed a mutation of thegene that controls aging and development. Dr. Richard Walker,a biomedical researcher and editor-in-chief of Clinical Interventionsin Aging, discovered Brooke’s mutated gene. He has been studying hercase since 2006. “Brooke is a unique individualbecause she has a mutation in the developmental gene that prevents herfrom aging, and she’s in the developmental phase,” Walker said.“There’s no hope for her, but what she brings to science is informationon how we may be able to delay aging.” Brooke,one of four children, is definitely a “Daddy’s girl.” Her father sparesno expense for his daughter. Like her sisters, Brooke had a Bat Mitzvah— the Jewish rite of passage into adulthood — when she turned 13. Andhe buys her the best strollers and baby swings. “That’swhat she really loves,” said Caitlin Greenberg, 19, pointing to theswing, as Brooke propelled herself back and forth, a smile forming onher small face. Caitlin, a sophomore atTowson University, and her other sisters, Emily, 22, and Carly, 13, areof normal size and development. They still interact with their “little”sister as if “she’s just one of the gals,” Caitlin said. Butit’s a difficult life for the Greenbergs. The state of Maryland hasprovided two nurses to help care for Brooke 16 hours a day, because shewas getting sick often and needed a feeding tube inserted in herstomach. “From the ages of 1 to 5, she spent 65percent of her life in the hospital,” her mom, Melanie, said. “It takesher 10 hours a day just to eat. She’s medically fragile.” Accordingto Walker, development and aging are at opposite poles of the lifecontinuum, but they are controlled by the same genes. In youngchildhood, these genes initiate structure and function and coordinatechange (single cells eventually become full-functioning adults). “Once we’re adults, we don’t want to change,” Walker said. “We all want our bodiesto be about 21. But those genes don’t turn off at that time. It causesthe bodies’ stability to erode, and that’s what aging is. Thepunchline: if you can get those genes and turn them off, then youwouldn’t have aging.” Essentially, Brooke’s aging and development genes have been turned off. Her bones are that of a 10-year-old, her teeth are 6-years-old, her brain is less than a year old, Walker said. Yet, her hair and nails, protein synthesis, grow normally. “We’restill searching for the mutation,” Walker said. “Once we find it, weare going to try to manipulate it in experimental animals to see if wecan extend their lifespan.” In the meantime,the Greenberg family takes each day with Brooke as it comes. They don’tdwell on the negative; instead, they consider Brooke’s life a gift. “Maybe she holds the keys to medical history,” Caitlin said.To learn more about Brooke’s story, watch Child Frozen in Time Sunday at 9 p.m. on TLC.

_________________"Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders & says...'Oh shit....she's awake!!"